[yboris]

Couple of points:

0. You offer an interesting idea: providing days off that individuals can take off for whichever reason they want. Seems like a good policy. This could be implemented as a 'mandatory minimum number of days off for every full time worker'. It does not have to compete with national holidays.

1. I think holidays serve a symbolic meaning too: indicating what we as a nation value, even if not every person in the nation does. It's like an agenda: we choose to remember certain individuals or ideas. Some like Columbus day, people are fighting and trying to remove.

2. Holidays provide a day when "everyone" (obviously not everyone, but most people) are reliably free without work. This makes family gatherings easier (4th of July). I think it's a tragedy that election day is not a national holiday.